Walking Backwards
by Nari-sama
Summary: Neji snaps for no reason...nearly killing his cousin...he is ordered to stay at the Konoha Mental Hospital for 6 months...but with a first week like this can he last and why are so many patients dieing off. Neji/Shika AU
1. Chapter 1

**Well well I'm reposting Walking Backwards finally after revising it. I haven't finished the latest chapter though anyway enjoy the ansty goodness.**

**Disclaimer:** Do Not Own - but do definitely want lol

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 1 I Don't Know Why...

"Mr. Hyuuga you have pled guilty to the crime of reckless endangerment and the prosecution is satisfied with the testimony?" the Magistrate said looking over at the prosecutor.

"Yes, Your Honor" She said.

"Neji Hyuuga under the sentencing agreement you are here by sequestered to the department of mental health to be committed to an institution of their choice for a term no less than 6 months!" the Magistrate ordered hitting his mallet against the bench and the guards walked towards Neji.

Neji looked back at Hinata and his Uncle Hiashi; he couldn't believe what he'd done let alone the verdict.

"Don't worry Neji-neesan...I'm sure you'll...be out soon" Hinata tried to reassure her cousin and hugged him.

"Hinata-sama I tried to kill Hanabi-sama and I don't even remember doing it..." Neji whispered with his head hung, in his mind he had no choice in what happened to him...it was his fate to be locked up even if he had amnesia all the evidence pointed to him.

"She doesn't...blame you..." she reminded him.

"I know..." he trailed off.

"...But...you blame yourself...just...remember we'll ...be waiting for you to...come...home Neji-neesan" she stuttered and averted her gaze to the ground playing with the hem of he indigo dress.

"Goodbye Hinata-sama...Hiashi-sama" Neji said forlornly and didn't put up a struggle as he was dragged away by the court guards.

**&**

The doors to the white van were unlocked and the two men grabbed onto his arms, his hands were cuffed behind his back, and forced him to his feet. "You know I may be insane but I'm not stupid...you could've just asked moron!" Neji exclaimed glaring at the two.

"Shut ya mouth brat or we'll give you something really to complain about" on of them said pulling him along the paved road.

"Please!...Like what your atrocious grammar?" Neji spat, it wasn't like he had anything to loose.

The guards remained silent as one of the doctors came out to greet them wanting to leave as quickly as possible the second guard unlocked Neji's handcuffs, the guard using hs own qausi-logic thought if anything went wrong there's a doctor around, and dropped the teens suitcase on the dusty paving.

"So..." said the doctor "You're the new patient eh? Neji Hyuuga" he rubbed his chin as if pondering something "Well come on in Neji there's no better place to recover your spirit of youth than Konoha Hospital!" and he struck a pose.

Neji mentally cringed "He's the one who should be a mental patient not me...' he thought picking up his black suitcase off the ground.


	2. New Beginnings

I like Sasuke in this he's virtually non-existant in my other too fics so far and he really is such a comic relief in this lol.

Disclaimer: (read chapter 1 please I had run out of funniness oh noes!)

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 2 New Beginnings

"I'm Doctor Maito Gai, but you can just call me Gai being called doctor makes me feel old" the doctor joked while Neji was just standing there thinking 'Now would smacking him in the head with my suitcase right now be classed as self-defense...'

The two of them walked through the large double doors they entered an empty corridor. At the end was the reception desk and one of the nurses was there to greet them.

"Gai! Doctor Tsunade told you not to greet the patients anymore" the young brunette nurse chastised the doctor.

"Hey the guards were going to leave him outside again what was I going to do!" Gai explained "Ah...Neji, you wouldn't know our young Tenten Kengeki yet" he asked snapping Neji out of his staring contests with the ceiling.

"...No..." he replied thinking 'What does it look like I've been here before...?'

Tenten sighed pushing Gai out through the door "Go work _Doctor_ Gai! which is what you are suppose to be doing at the moment you have a patient in Ward 7 waiting for you!" she reminded him.

"Is he always like that?" Neji asked her looking a little dubious.

"Yep, he's more trouble to be around than some of the patients" she joked and went behind the reception desk "Hey Sakura have you got the log-in book?" Tenten called out into the room behind her.

"It's on the desk last time I had it... I remember putting it right next to Gaara's file!" the other nurse replied running her hand through her short pink hair. After a couple of tries ruffling through the stack of files she eventually found it "Ah here it is finally! Damn that Kakashi leaving all these reports" she rambled on "He's does them all at once and just dumps them on reception honestly you can never find anything!".

Tenten just ignored her, like she ranted like that all the time, and opened the thick hard backed book to a fresh page "Now can you write you full name here in print and sign here and here" she order cheerfully handing Neji a pen. As soon as he'd completed it she closed the book back up and placed it on top of the wavering stack of psych exams. "Now I guess we'll have to give you the uniform..." she sighed "And you look so handsome too...oh well...hand over your bag please" Neji gave the nurse his suitcase uncomfortably.

"Why?" he asked feeling uneasy at some stranger especially a girl going through his personal things.

"Um..." she said looking up for a second "To make sure you don't have anything that you could use to harm yourself or others with" she then pulled out all of the things she deemed safe and dumped them into a paper bag "Ok so no more questions?" Tenten asked and he shook his head "Now comes the best part 'the out fitters'" she said unenthusiastically motioning Neji to follow her.

&

"Hmn so finally got someone with at least a little bit sanity Tenten?" the bearded middle-aged man said puffing away on his cigarette.

"Yeah Mr. Asuma" she replied walking through the door.

Asuma climbed down off the ladder he'd been standing on shifting boxes.

After about quarter of an hour they'd found a gown, t-shirt and pants that fit. Neji flinched slightly as Asuma did his final measurements "Sorry there kid I normally deal with punks in straight jackets and psycho's screaming about God or the voices in there head" he apologized tapping the ash off the end of his cigarette before he started smoking again "Yeah...good this should fit fine for a good six years" he said to himself backing away to look at his handy work.

"Asuma when are you going to stop pretending you're a tailor" Tenten said exasperated.

"When the Government starts paying me a decent wage...Yo girly I like ya choice out of the wards, Shika will just love having him around, his highness has been pissing him off lately" he commented scratching his beard.

"ASUMA!" she yelled at him "How many times have I told you not to hack into the records...god I don't know who is worse you or Gai" and she grabbed Neji by the arm and led him out but not before Asuma yelled out to them "HEY I RESENT THAT AT LEAST I DON'T WHERE SPANDEX!"

&

As they rose level by level up the stairs Neji began to realize that the higher they went the more insane the patients appeared.

"I'm sorry about having to walk our elevator's getting fixed" she said hanging her head "We barely have enough money to keep this place running as it is the damn feds have been cutting back health funding so much lately and they wonder why there's so many murders lately... here we are Level 4 ward 10 yep that's right" she unlocked and pushed open the heavy metal door.

Neji took in everything about the room, there wasn't much to look at the walls were covered in cushion padding coloured a sickly hospital white , a table and six chairs were bolted to the floor next to them a large couch sat to the left of the door in front of a T.V. and VCR on a high shelf.

Branching off from the main room there was a short hall way which lined with three doors on either side.

Though the room was rather bland; the people on the other hand...Neji would never admit it...well...they were what really scared him about living here...


	3. Don't Mind The Psycho's

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 3 Don't Mind The Psycho's

Shikamaru turned away from his most recent glaring match with the visually emotionless Uchiha to see who had entered, there wasn't any nurses scheduled to visit until later that day... and he always hated not knowing something.

"How's everyone today?" Tenten asked cheerfully, ignoring the clear tension in the room.

"Can I kill Naruto today?" Sasuke asked matter-of-factly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"No Sasuke-kun you ask me every day whether you can kill someone and I give you the same answer..." the nurse replied still as calmly as ever while Neji who was standing behind her out of view appeared very perturbed. She turned her head and whispered to him "Sociopath" she explained "...don't worry he hasn't killed anyone for two years now".

"Yeah Sasuke-teme stop trying to act so cool" someone yelled from the back of the group.

"Shut up dobe or you'll fucking have your knees back to front" Sasuke stated slapping a blonde boy over the head and then grabbed his throat tightly.

"Stop it Sasuke that's enough! Let Naruto go right now or I'll put you up stairs!" the nurse said raising her voice to him.

Slowly Sasuke loosened his grip on the blonde's neck and threw him down to the floor "You're not worth killing anyway..." he muttered walking away.

"Now we have someone new joining us today" Tenten told the small group "Come in Neji-kun" she virtually pulled him into the padded room "This is Neji Hyuuga he's here by order of the court so don't cause trouble" she said sternly "Neji this is your cell if there's an emergency press the buzzer, I'll come back up at 12 ok" she showed him the nearly bare room except for a bed with everything covered with white puffy material reminding of him clouds.

With the introduction done Tenten rushed back to her station downstairs.

Left alone no one really knew how to react to the newcomer, Sasuke though went back to his room uninterested in the whole in situation and begun drawing pictures of dead people and dismembered bodies in his sketch book…you know happy things.

Kiba backed away behind Shikamaru waiting to see what he would do; while the black haired teen stood back and observed him carefully he was too pale to not be at least a little bit like Sasuke.

"HI I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI!" the blonde yelled, his vocal chords clearly seeming to be completely undamaged by Sasuke's attack.

"Naruto! Do you have to be so loud?" Shikamaru said cringing.

"Sorry Shika!" He replied slightly quieter than before.

"Naruto huh? Well just keep out of my way loser I'm going to get out of here as quickly as possible and I'm not going to stay any longer in this dump than I have to, got that idiot" Neji said to him coldly, his face covered with a scowl flicking his hair off his shoulder and walked into his cell closing the door behind him quickly enough to make a noise but not as to slam it.

"What a jerk, what's up his ass? Damn bastard he's worse than Sasuke- teme" Naruto suddenly launched into a tirade about Neji when he suddenly became very depressed "Urgh...what's the point...what do you think Shika?"

"1 Stop scaring Kankuro and Kiba and 2 take your freaking meds once in while Naruto" the older boy answered "Some people actually have family's who care about them and want to get out...while us, we're the smart one's we get everything sane people get for free... anyway just stay out of his way for now, newcomers are so fucking troublesome..." he sighed sitting down.


	4. Unforeseen Side Effects

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 4 Unforeseen Side Effects

Neji laid awake on the bed staring up at the ceiling 'I don't want to leave Hinata- sama alone...I need to get out of here and if that means alienating people so be it...' he thought when he heard someone open his door.

Sasuke walked into the white room silently, not saying a word to Neji. Looking carefully he could see Sasuke's eyes had changed from an almost black navy blue colour to crimson.

"What do you want?" Neji asked bluntly and sat up slightly in bed but Sasuke pushed him back down, his face set in a deep scowl "If you're not going to say anything get fuck out of my room" Neji ordered him to little effect except for the boy to suddenly jump on top of him Sasuke's hand latching onto Neji's throat so tightly he could feel Sasuke's nails, even though they had been cut to the quick, dig into the skin of his pale neck.

"You had no right to insult Naruto" Sasuke said calmly "Only I can, only I have permission to" though he appeared calm as he said this his grip on Neji's neck became tighter and tighter.

'Fucking hell he's going to fucking kill me!' Neji thought struggling to breath and started coughing as blood and saliva backed up inside of his throat. The vision started to blur and blacken.

&

In the common room Naruto and Shikamaru had been playing a game of scramble, needless to say Shikamaru was winning by a huge margin, and in the corner Kiba was annoying Kankuro who was playing with a puppet made of cardboard and string.

"This is boring Shika can't we play another game?" Naruto asked scratched his head and placed down a three letter word only for Shikamaru to create a seven letter one from it.

Shikamaru sighed "You can always go play with Sasuke..." he said and smirked slightly "By the way..." he changed the subject seamlessly "where is our friendly neighborhood sociopath?" he looked around finding Sasuke nowhere in sight.

"I don't know I haven't seen the bastard leave his block" Naruto replied glaring at Shikamaru for the dig at him while he thought 'Gah! You accidentally kiss someone and it haunts you for the rest of your life!'.

Kiba bounded over towards the two having gotten bored with teasing Kankuro especially when the older boy nearly twisted his arm off "I know I know! Pick Me!" he yelled excitedly, jumping up and down with his hand in the air.

"Kiba! Ok just shut the fuck up!" Shikamaru said through grated teeth...god he hated noise.

"He went to say hello to Neji!" Kiba answered "Wheeeee! Owwww meanie..." he rubbed between his eyes where the scrabble piece (that Shikamaru had thrown at him) had hit.

"What was that?" Shikamaru said standing up from his chair.

Naruto listened carefully trying to hear and asked him "Huh? What're ya talking about Shika I don't hear anything" but Shikamaru could hear it... that gurgling sound he'd been hearing it the whole way through their game nagging at the back of his mind the whole time... it was so familiar.

"No!" Shikamaru yelled and charged down the corridor to Neji's cell at the end of the hall.

&

"SASUKE!" Neji heard someone yell 'Sounds...so ...far...away' he thought slowly and took a sharp gasp of air when he felt the pressure from around his neck go away but ended up in a series of hacking coughs with the faint smell of metal under his nose that told him it was blood.

"Leave... alone...maru...you...anything" a garbled mess of voices came through "Sasuke...don't...you...last time" Suddenly the pain returned and again his airway was blocked making Neji finally slip into unconsciousness.

&

Shikamaru shouted for Sasuke to open the door before he burst through the door and pushed Sasuke off of Neji's limp body and into the wall.

"Leave me alone Shikamaru" Sasuke growled getting slowly back up to his feet.

Shikamaru had always been the only one who could control Sasuke; he'd been the first of their ward in the Institution and he'd never shown an ounce of fear when it came to Sasuke...even when he tried to hurt him, he always said it was too troublesome to panic.

"Sasuke stop this now, don't you remember what happened last time!" Shikamaru pleaded with the black hair boy but he didn't listen just grabbing Neji's blood covered throat again in his crushing grip.

"I don't care...they sent him here didn't they...to finally silence me he's behind this I know he is!" Sasuke yelled in his rage filled paranoia "He must die..." he said slowly re-establishing his calm cold appearance he was previously.

"The guards are coming Sasuke they'll put you upstairs this time for sure" Shikamaru tried to reason with the sociopath to no avail 'I have to do something no matter how damn troublesome Neji seemed, I can't let Sasuke kill him' he thought 'I guess the coward has to play hero che...'.

Shikamaru grabbed onto Sasuke's shoulders from behind and tried to pull him off the long haired brunette but Sasuke elbowed him in the face giving him a cut lip for his troubles and turned back to the task of crushing the life out the new comer.

'Bastard...time to use his weakness' Shikamaru thought smirking slightly through the pain and pulled out his hair tie and re-did it low and with his fringe parked to either side of his face 'Sometimes Shikamaru really are a fucking retard' yelling over at Sasuke "Sasuke...I'm the one you really want!" and threw a book at Sasuke's head which finally got the blood covered boy's attention away from Neji.

"You..." he growled angrily, it was then that Shikamaru knew his strategy had worked just as he had planned; Sasuke ran over towards him his eyes crimson again and slammed Shikamaru into the wall only for him to get back up and look Sasuke directly in the eyes showing no signs of fear...


	5. Sometimes The Silence Is Worse

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 5 Sometimes The Silence Is Worse

_Beep...beep...beep..._

Shikamaru was slowly roused from his deep sleep hearing troubling but familiar sounds and he opened his chocolate brown eyes to look directly up at the white tiled ceiling.

_Drip...drip...drip..._

'Now how did this happen?...' he pondered and brought his hand up to rub his temples then sighed, he looked over to his right 'Oh yeah...him' he thought sighing again 'well at least I got my wish...finally no noise' Shikamaru looked back up the ceiling with a small smirk across his lips.

&

Sasuke struggled hard against his restraints tying him down to the bed in the holding cell while people stood in the corridor outside the open door, hidden from his view by long shadows obscuring their faces but he could still hear that their conversation was about him.

"_It's gone too far Dr. Tsunade ...this is the third time he's tried to kill another patient in the last four years_" one of the suited men stated pushing his glasses up the ridge of his nose with his middle finger.

"_I know he's violent sometimes but if he is forced to go back to the criminal ward again he's only going to come out worse Tsunade..._" a lazy voice said from the back of the group.

_"You know I don't want Sasuke to hurt anyone else but I would rather keep him down here away from the high security level..."_ She tried to compromise and looked over at him.

A man with shoulder length brown haired, standing next to the one with glasses, sighed and opened his briefcase taking out a handful of papers and said _"I guess we have no choice...after all we've given a reasonable amount of time to meet our demands... Minister Jiraiya thought you wouldn't back down without a fight"._

Tsunade read quickly through the papers he'd given her, her fists clenched angrily when she finished _"I can't believe this he's going over my head that perverted bastard! If it wasn't for me Orochimaru would still be roaming the streets and this is how he repays me next time he can sort out his own mess!"_ she yelled throwing the papers in their faces and stormed off.

&

Tsunade walked angrily down the hall towards her office her heels clicking sharply on the hard black floor and white coat flapping up and down behind her.

"Tsunade please wait up" a black haired woman called out running to try and catch up with her.

"They knew Shizune! They knew we had nothing and they played us for all we had...we won the fucking election for those bastards! Honestly we're the ones who clean up the mental health sector and they get all the accolades!" Tsunade screamed pushing open the door to her office making it fall off the hinges.

Shizune squirmed "Tsunade..." she warned following her into the room "We don't have enough money as it is without you breaking doors as well...anyway Jiraiya and Premier 

Sarutobi know you too well and wasn't it you who said never to trust politicians" she sighed grabbing the bottle of sake out of her boss' hands.

"I said that because I was a politician and know how they work...damn manipulative bastards" Tsunade told her secretary/apprentice and rested her head on the desk her blonde fringe falling into her honey brown eyes.

"But really what are we going to do with Sasuke though? He nearly killed Shikamaru and the new one Neji Hyuuga...so if you don't do what they want they'll claim you're bias you don't have much support amongst the department anymore you'll probably just end up getting replaced and he'll still probably be stuck in there...most likely for good this time after what happened with Kankuro and his brother..." Shizune advised her reading through all the legal motions the two men had given them sitting back in her chair.

"I know...I know in the end they have us up against a wall... and I don't mean in a good way..." the older woman said banging her head against the hard wooden surface and snuck out another bottle of alcohol "...urgh...I need a drink".

&

"I see you're finally awake Mr. Hyuuga" the pretty blonde haired nurse said cheerfully, as Neji announced his consciousness with a tired groan, and she walked over to her patient.

"Ahhh!" he winced in pain as she shone a torch into each of his almost white violet eyes.

"Hi to you too I'm Ino Yamanaka your nurse for today" she told him, sounding kind of like an airline hostess, cranking up the hospital bed.

"Where...am...I?" Neji asked blearily.

"Infirmary, now can you tell me your full name and date of birth please" Ino asked getting out her clip board.

"Neji Hyuuga, 3rd of July 1986" Neji rattled off running his hand through his hair when he noticed something was wrong "What the hell happened to my hair!" he screamed and felt his hair again.

"Oh that's just our policy we cut your hair to prevent self harm you don't wanna know how many people have tried to strangle themselves... yeah and there was that whole incident with Sasuke wanting to kill any guy with long hair" she said updating his chart, after ten minutes of silence between the two she sighed and looked at her watch "God where is she? Sakura should have been back by now I'm not even meant to be alone with you two, she knew too well I can't control him when he gets like that" Ino lent back against the work bench.

"Wait there was another guy what happened to him?" Neji asked trying to stop his worry show through.

"Oh Shikamaru he was sent back up to his ward ah I shouldn't even be telling you that..." Ino stated nervously staring down at the floor.

"Tell me what happened!" Neji commanded clenching his fists.

"Sasuke pounded his head into a wall if it wasn't for the padding he'd be dead now...got pretty beat up...was out cold for a week had to put him on life support as well, lost a lot of blood our Shika did" she said and sighed shaking her head "The doctors said he was all clear well physically at least heh don't you remember anything the guards who dragged you down here said you were still lucid when they found you two"

"I don't know...I don't remember exactly my memory just goes blank after that guy Shikamaru burst into my room..." he whispered.

&

The silver haired doctor shook his head "This doesn't look right Sakura" he said rubbing his chin "at these levels he'd be going into psychosis can you go back and do the test two more times to clear any contaminants from the sample"

"Alright Dr. Kakashi but shouldn't we tell Dr. Tsunade about this?" the pink haired nurse argued.

"Not right now she has too much to worry about already with Sasuke just keep the results quiet until it's certain that nothing else can be the cause, remember Sakura what happened with Gaara it wouldn't be the first diagnosis we've gotten wrong" Kakashi ordered her and sat back in his office chair staring up at the charts as Sakura left closing the door behind her 'Rushing things won't get the job done Sakura, trying to cure every dissociative patient won't bring you any closer to Sasuke...' he thought turning back to his reading.

&

_Sasuke's face came mere centimeters from his own, close enough to see the broken blood vessels in his eyes had turned them crimson like they always did when the Uchiha was like this..._

He remembered crying something out to try to get Sasuke to stop but he knew it was useless when he looked so much like that man he wanted so desperately to kill...Itachi...his brother...or at least he used to hold that title.

Shikamaru knew his history...he knew everything about anyone and also it doesn't hurt to know one of the nurses, he had been here the longest after all.

Shikamaru laid sprawled out over his bed as he had done for past ten hours staring up and the ceiling intensely when he felt a small trickle run done the side of his face it was so far the seventh time and it was starting to annoy him having to wipe away the small stream of blood coming from his nose every five minutes.

He looked towards his open door as he heard movement in the common room and stood up rather too quickly for his bodies liking "Troublesome…" he whispered as his knees buckled Shikamaru sat there on all fours when he suddenly threw up what little was in his stomach all over the white spongy floor.


	6. Spare Me The Pity

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 6 Spare Me Your Pity

Neji ran down the hall when he heard the gagging noises coming from one of the cells.

Shikamaru lie collapsed on the ground his whole body convulsing violently, his eyes rolled to the back of his head with part of his face lying in a pool of vomit.

"Shikamaru! Damn idiots!" Neji yelled running back out into the common room hurriedly punching a large red button on the wall with his palm.

&

Naruto sunk the basketball straight through the hoop, jumping up and down with Kiba on the lino court, they hadn't been allowed outside for awhile since Lee hung himself from the other hoop -supposedly he'd been angry at himself for failing to run 300 times around the yard so Sakura would love him.

He dribbled the ball a few times throwing angrily to the other side of the yard making Kiba run after it... it wasn't the same without Sasuke and Shikamaru...sure Sasuke tried to kill him numerous time a week but he was still his best friend!

"Come on! KIBA! WE'RE GOING BACK!" Naruto yelled walking back inside.

"AWWW NARUTO WAIT UP!" Kiba called out running quickly to catch up with the blonde.

As the two arrived at the door an orderly took the ball away from Kiba making whine "Why do they always take my ball away damn it..." and escorted the two boys into the newly fixed elevator.

"Your new..." Naruto commented staring suspiciously at the orderly.

"Yeah I just moved to the city, I'm Iruka Umino" the brunette man said politely when suddenly the light on the roof of the elevator lit up flashing blue "What's that mean?" he asked and a voice came over the loud speaker.

_'WARNING CODE BLUE MEDICAL EMERGENCY IN LEVEL 4 WARD 10 ALL MEDICAL PERSONAL TO WARD 10 REPEAT CODE BLUE ON LEVEL 4 WARD 10_!' it blared.

"Come on!" Naruto yelled tugging at Iruka's arm to pull him along the corridor as the elevator doors slid open.

"Why are we running? I'm not a doctor" Iruka said above the ringing noise of the sirens.

"That's our ward! Someone's hurt moron so it's probably one of our friends! How'd you ever get this job you're way too naive" Naruto replied skidding around the corner.

"Believe it!" Kiba called out from behind the two.

"Shut up Kiba!"

&

Shikamaru was floating, well at least that's what it felt like floating submerged in ice cold water. He opened his eyes slowly and he found himself standing in an unfamiliar room...it was completely empty with everything,the walls...the floor...even the ceiling, was painted that blinding hospital white that made him want to shield his tired eyes.

The only thing that stood out about the nondescript room was the door...covered in writing and little drawing and peoples names in all different colours ranging from purple to orange to electric blue, it looked like it had more colours than a hippies t-shirt.

Shikamaru was drawn to it and found himself turning the handle without taking a step forward.

It flung open and a giant wind blew through the door frame with leaves flying in his face before suddenly dying down to nothing as Shikamaru stepped out of the room into a long dusty corridor ending in a hallway that went left and right.

"Hello!" He called out seeing if there was anyone there when a large shadow fluttered on the wall from around the corner, he sighed deciding he might as well follow it "Troublesome..." he muttered.


	7. I'm the Borderline Between Your Dreams

**Hiya folks...thanx rockyBubbles for reviewing! **

**Anyway I've changed the title for this chapter about three times over the last two weeks lol I settled for this one - lol that's what I do between fics, make up weird imaginative chapter titles...how sad lol**

**Well so long for now, I send my love to you all and I'm off to try working on Train Wreck...**

Disclaimer: No I don't own Naruto...not at all folks...I just like using the characters to act out my sicko weird arse fantasies lol!

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 7 I'm the Boreline Between Your Dreams and Their Reality

Shikamaru found himself following the shadow 'Ok why am I following this thing...' he thought and closed his eyes sighing and opened them to find that the shadow had suddenly disappeared "This is becoming so fucking troublesome..." he said aloud noticing a violet door that hadn't been there two seconds ago now stood at the end of the corridor.

Opening it he saw a sunny field, without thinking he stepped through the doorway "What is this place?" he thought out loud he looked back behind only to find the door had vanished.

_"Shikamaru..."_ a voice called out, it was vaguely familiar "_Come on you lazy bastard I've been waiting for half an hour for you to get your ass over here"_

"Yeah yeah..." Shikamaru couldn't help but say.

_"Where the hell have you been? We have to set in half an hour"_ he pointed out glaring at him.

"Huh for what?" Shikamaru asked sounding like a idiot.

_"You seriously forgot about the mission..." _Neji sighed rubbing his temple "_You've been spending way too much time around Naruto you know that Nara"._

"Eh...troublesome Neji you sound like my mum" he mumbled thinking about what the hell was going on and that this fish-net looked quite fetching on him...don't ask...

_"You're an idiot Nara can't you tell when somethings real or not"_ the brunette whispered.

Suddenly the world morphed.

Shikamaru shuddered he knew this place, a place he never thought he'd return to even in his own mind. An average single storey middle-class suburban house; in the kitchen a woman in her mid-thirties in a light blue dress and an apron was watching over a nine year old boy while she cooked.

'Mum...' he thought flinching at the memory, his father worked as soldier and was deployed at the time...they lived in the same neighbourhood as Sasuke...he knew even at that age what she did when he was at school when she thought she was alone...the alcohol...the affairs but when he'd called her up on it that's when she became really bad.

_"Mum, I know"_ the boy said continuing to look at the book he was reading.

She froze for a second fry pan in her hand _"What's that Shika dear?" _she asked her voice sounding cheerful in a fake sickly sweet way.

_"You and Mr.Uchiha...I saw you...how could you betray Dad like that!" _he raised his voice slightly still staring down.

_"What do you know brat! He's never here!"_ she yelled angrily grabbing the front of his gray t-shirt her mood suddenly changed like the flick of a switch.

_"More than you think, if you're lonely why don't you just divorce Dad"_ the young Shikamaru argued clenching his small fists.

"_You don't know what the fuck you're talking about, you're an idiot a moron little brat_" his mother screamed hitting him on the side of his head with the fry pan and threw him to the floor. Blood ran down the black haired boy's face from the long gash in his forehead just below his hairline, he felt slightly groggy as laid on the wooden floor and a small trickle of blood started streaming from his nose.

Shikamaru remembered how his vision was blurred and he'd thrown up repeatedly for the next couple of days until he'd collapsed at school and was rushed to hospital...the doctor had said he'd suffered from a large lesion and swelling on his parietal lobe and pre-frontal cortex later he developed something called Gerstmann Syndrome. He hadn't been able to read or write anymore having to learn it all over again.

He'd changed; Shikamaru had been reasonably sociable and played with other kids but after he felt unmotivated to do anything and fell asleep all the time even when he wasn't feeling tired, he couldn't be left alone because he would haves gaps in his short term money sometimes and wouldn't eat for a day or more at a time, he lost none of his intellect but he couldn't be relied on to care for himself and his mother couldn't be bothered doing it for him so she'd dropped him off at a private mental hospital on the outskirts of town.

When Shikamaru was eleven years old though he'd strangled another patient an older girl named Tayuya with his bare hands after she'd been playing her flute all night trying to piss him off...lucky her it actually worked she'd been keeping him awake at night for three whole days and his what little emotions he had felt normally just built up Shikamaru just couldn't stand that red haired bitch picking on him anymore!

He was only eleven so he didn't go to gaol but he was transferred to the more secure facility of Konoha Mental Hospital. He'd been surprised when he'd seen Sasuke arrive at his ward when he was thirteen, from what he'd heard the Uchiha had murdered some blonde guy while trying to get revenge on his older brother.

Slowly Shikamaru himself being forcibly woken up, from the fuzziness he felt through the pain he was feeling he guessed they'd probably operated on him.

"You know you might as well open your eyes Shikamaru I know you're awake now! Don't you hide from me mister!" he heard a high pitched voice chirp increasing the pain in his head.

"Urgh..." he groaned as someone pulled his eyelids open and shone a blinding light into his glazed brown eyes with their penlight.

"Equal pupil response, from the MRI it seems there's bruising and slight swelling but no new permanent damage... congratulations Mister Nara you just proved you're a moron" another voice explained "If Ino can't keep patients in bed when they clearly have head injuries how the hell did she pass nursing college?"

"Um...Kakashi it was only her caring for two patients on her own" the first more feminine voice replied trying to defend her friend and colleague.

"And who's fault was that Sakura?" Kakashi asked her with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

Shikamaru sighed 'Why does everyone here have such troublesome voices?' letting his eyelids close again slipping back into a light sleep.

**&**

Kankuro sat in his corner his back against the padded wall, he saw everything that went on in the ward his narrow emerald green eyes taking in the entire room. For the past two days his catlike curiosity had been peaked and he'd been focusing his limited attention span on the newbie Neji Hyuuga, he'd been beaten into a coma on his first day.

The dark brown haired teen though knew it was really a distraction to make people look away from the problems with the world around them - the simple fact that this world they were was - not real - it was an illusion, he'd figure it out...he'd escape - eventually anyway it would just take time and effort, so it is when you were knocking down a concrete wall with a chisel instead of a jackhammer...chip, chip, chip...chip away no matter how long it took in the end it would all come crumbling down.

'I'll get you back Gaara...I'll make sure they pay for what they've done to us!' he thought angrily, glaring his at the puppets covering his large tanned hands both had raven black hair with one wearing dark blue and white while the other wearing all black.

"Kankuro, right?" a voice said to his right 'damn it blind sighted again I shouldn't have let my attention wander back to the other scenes of the play' Kankuro thought looking around the room and he sighed in relief 'Only Hyuuga...'.

"You shouldn't do that...I could've killed you...you know Neji" he answered looking down again but keeping the other boy in his peripheral vision.

Neji ignored the older teens statement and replied "I was wandering where everyone is? Naruto and Kiba arn't here" he ran his pale fingers through his dark brunette hair still getting used to his new look.

"It's visitors day...the guards should have told you" Kankuro simply said concentrating on his hand puppets 'Hmmm the scene has started...interesting...I should look at Shikamaru's notes again'.

"Visitors day? No one told me, thanks" Neji questioned, his brow scrunching up in thought and walked away in his cell.

Kankuro sighed and thought 'Oh well this play just got a lot more fun...even Gaara would find these developments interesting' he put the two black haired puppets away and got out two more from his box these ones with silver hair and other with pink " oh well let's see how far they take this, huh Karasu?" he said to the doll next to him.

**&**

Neji laid down on his bed, putting his arms behind his head. He was worried, tired and bored; he didn't know if Shikamaru was out of surgery yet and the only one around to relieve his boredom was Kankuro...not that he was any help.

He sighed, why couldn't anything in this place be easy and straightforward he wondered, rolling onto his side.

"Hinata-sama must be becoming lonely with only Hanabi-sama to keep her company..." he said to himself closing his eyes, the medication he'd taken at lunchtime had zapped his a lot of his strength making him tired throughout the afternoon 'oh well might as well go to sleep...not like there's really anything to look forward to...wait isn't there group today?' he asked himself 'maybe I don't know? If you don't know, how the hell am I meant to know idiot' slowly drifting off to sleep.

**TBC**


	8. Somethings Got A Hold On Me

**Well well it's been such a long time since I've updated lol but finally I managed to finish chapter 8...some warnings for this chapter - character death! Horrible fight scenes lol anyway on with the fic and see if you can catch the GITS reference I used! **

**Disclaimer:** I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT THE PLOT! MAYBE!!!

**Walking Backwards  
**Chapter 8 Somethings Got Hold of Me

Sasuke raised his head back up his obsidian eyes glaring at his older brother.

"Go fuck yourself bitch!" he growled angrily, wiping the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and threw himself at Itachi "I'm going to snap your fucking neck!".

The older dodged Sasuke's kicks and grabbed his wrists, kneed him in the stomach that made the younger boy cry out but he still smiled psychotically through the pain and uppercut Itachi straight in the jaw with his foot making him let go of his tight grip on Sasuke's arms.

"So weak..." Itachi commented "I would have thought after seven years you would have gotten stronger" he smirked running his pale fingers through his long raven hair.

"Weak...you're the one playing their game" he spat "You don't even see what's right in front of you, Pein and Madara left you here to rot...you really thought they'd come for you".

"Heh, you're a moron if think this walls are the real prison, breaking out of this building won't set you free - there's nothing beyond the fence anyway" Itachi ranted his eyes wide and glazed.

**&&&**

It had taken a little effort on his part but Shikamaru finally gave Ino the slip even with the blurred vision and mental confusion. He had to find out what happened to Sasuke, they weren't exactly friends but they had an unspoken agreement that seeing as they were in this together they might as well help each other out sometimes...and the sex was okay too.

Shikamaru tapped on the keyboard accessing the hospital mainframe and tried to open the files on the high security patients only to be blocked by two windows asking for passwords.

'Fuck...' he thought, he always hated having to hack...it was so troublesome 'But at least it keeps things interesting' he mused a smirk forming on his thin lips as he crack it - the familiar ache at the back of his head keeping him alert through his tiredness.

The computer's glare in dark room hurt is eyes but he needed to do this before anyone begun wondering where he was.

A list of names appeared on the monitor, he punched a name into the search bar and waited a second for the page to come up.

**UCHIHA, Sasuke**

**DOB:** 23/07/1992  
**Birthplace:** Konoha Pediatrics Hospital, Konoha, Japan  
**Age:** 17  
**Blood type:** AB  
**Height:** 168cm  
**Weight:** 52kg

**Legal Gaurdian/Medical Proxy:** HATAKE, Kakashi

**Family**

**Mother: **UCHIHA (NARA), Mikoto - Deceased  
**Father:** UCHIHA, Fugaku - Deceased

**Siblings: **

UCHIHA, Itachi  
Male  
**DOB:** 09/06/1987  
**Resident of:** Konoha Mental Institution - Level 5 Criminal Division (60 years non-parol, indefinite imprisonment)

**Diagnosis**

Paranoia  
Pyromania  
Sadistic Personality Disorder  
Schzoid Personality Disorder

**Medications:** Prozac, Zoloft, Valium, Risperidone, Wellbutrin

**Resides In:** Level 4 long term/high care division, ward 10, room 3 (12/08/2004 - 24/02/2009)  
Moved to Level 5 Criminal Division, ward 4, room 25 (03/03/2009)

He quirked his eyebrow a bit, something wasn't right about his medical records...for one thing there wasn't nearly enough information about his diagnosis and there was nothing about his history at all, there was only the barest amount of information on him. He scrolled down the screen trying to find anything else...nothing...Shikamaru checked his own records for comparison, they were exactly, no history or progress notes or hell even a care plan. He talked with the nurses occasionally and knew they wrote a lot down about the patients but none of it seemed to be in the hospital database, something was wrong and it wasn't just his brain damage induced paranoia acting up.

Shikamaru felt something wet against his palm he looked at his hand 'What is this?' he thought touching the substance with his fingers 'Paint?' he looked at the desk to see where it might have come from...there was nothing on the top, he peered underneath and saw what looked like writing "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend to be one of those deaf-mutes" he read out loud to himself it sounded familiar but it didn't make much sense to Shikamaru, he furrowed his brow trying to remember where he'd heard that before.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about Sakura!" someone yelled outside pushing the door open angrily.

Shikamaru quickly sunk further into the shadows and flattened himself against the wall behind him hoping and praying to any deity that was bored enough to listen to him that he made it the hell out of here without being seen.

Kakashi's open palm slammed into Sakura's small chest; directly above her heart in one swift motion. Suddenly she stopped talking and clutched her chest, slowly collapsing to her knees in pain.

"…Kaka-sensei…" she murmured as a small stream of blood trickled down from between her glossy pink lips.

"I'm doing this for their own good Sakura, whether I die or not is of no real consequence but what you planned to do risk's both of their lives! If I have to become a monster like them in order to protect them then I don't really care" the silver haired man said scowling "Even if it's just to keep those two knuckleheads safe".

Shikamaru watched on frozen in shock as the doctor he'd once looked up to shoved what looked like white pills down the pink haired nurse's throat and propped her lifeless body against the wall next to the door.

**&&&**

Neji sat up on his bed, he'd just woken up too not tired enough to go back to sleep but still tired enough to just lay with with his head against the soft mattress for another hour.

"Not much of a morning person huh?" someone said, Neji looked down to see Kankuro leaning against the padded wall of his cell.

"What are _you_ doing in here?" he asked suspiciously his pale eyes narrowing.

Kankuro smirked with his left eye closed "I was bored" the dark brown haired teen replied "You should really learn to lock your door...there's some real insane people out there you know..." he laughed "you never know what could happen"

"Hmn if you're bored why don't you just go find Sasuke...very entertaining getting your skull bashed in" Neji retorted crossing his arms across his chest annoyed by the other guy's mischievous attitude somewhat.

"It isn't his fault you know, its the drugs they give him..." he cut himself off abruptly "anyway that's not why I came here Neji...it's almost sunset" Kankuro cupped his chin between his fingertips.

"Sunset? I thought you said it was morning, do you people ever make any sense?" Neji asked raising an eyebrow questioningly at the older boy.

"'How are you meant to know that you're in a prison if you never see the walls' my brother once said that to me" Kankuro said looking up at the ceiling "'In order to escape you must first realise that it's a prison and you must do it yourself or the revelation itself holds no meaning'" he smirked again "my sister always said we were both idiots most of the time, last year she killed herself they said it was a drug overdose or something and yet a month later there she is sitting in front of us alive and well on visitors day" he sighed "she gave us a message 'this world is poison...and the poison is reality'" Kankuro chuckled "ah but why bother someone like you with something trivial like this eh" he waved it off light heartedly.

"What the hell are you going on about?" Neji growled "None of that made any sense at all! You sound like circus clown lecturing people on God"

"And you can't see the forest from the trees" Kankuro teased humming to himself.

**&&&**

Kiba ran in the ward pulling Naruto behind him "KIBA LET GO YOU IDIOT!" the blonde screamed trying to get loose.

"Aww but Naru Naru you were so much fun before why'dya decide ta be such a moody bitch now!" Kiba whined still hugging Naruto tightly nudging his head against the other boys shoulder only to receive a smack in the head.

"Because you're a moron" he stated running a hand through his spiky locks "Now leave me alone I'm going to bed"

"Can I come with you?" Kiba asked innocently, tugging on Naruto's sleeve.

"No!" Naruto screamed pushing him in a wall angrily and his eyes blazed red with anger "Stop fucking touching me bastard!".

**TBC**


End file.
